Argument of a Lost Prince
by mydoctortennant
Summary: Teen!Fic; Arthur shouldn't be trusted with directions.


Deep in the depths of the forest to the West of Camelot the sound of horse hooves can be heard over the fallen foliage on the woodland floor. Through the usually tranquil trees a chorus of frustrated shouts could be heard. As they moved through the forest, birds fly away from the loud shouts. Had they been hunting they would have scared of all the prey by now.

They had however been on the trail of a 'monster' something Arthur was adamant about chasing. The King never would have allowed him to go on his own so he'd roped in Leon and Merlin. Morgana had decided to join them and with her came Gwen.

Much to the Prince's pleasure, of course. He was never without an excuse to be nearer Morgana so he could be nearer her maid. She truly was quite delightful.

Now however, all Gwen could do was pretend that she didn't know her travelling companions and busied herself with playing games with Merlin as they rode on. Anything from 'I Spy' to 'I Can Get a Bigger Leaf Than You!' had been endured whilst the two royals argued.

"If you will insist on getting us _lost_ of course I'm going to be _angry_," Morgana growled at Arthur as she kicked her mare into a trot to get the lead on him. They'd been going around in circles for hours,hours; she could have swore sworn they'd gone by that moss covered tree at least four timetimes already.

"If you stopped going off in random directions I wouldn't have to correct you."

"_Correct_ me? _CORRECT ME?_ You've been nothing but _wrong_ all day! You couldn't even find Meryl's Creek without our help!"

Leon caught up with them, trying his hardest to capture their attention; "If I-"

"You couldn't find your own bedchamber on your own for four years! You still need Guinevere's help to guide you!"

"My lord-"

"Poppycock! You can't even find your own clothes without Merlin's help!"

"I don't need to, I'm the Prin-"

"MY LORD!"

"Yes, Leon?" Arthur snapped at him. He didn't like to be interrupted.

"If we head due east we shall reach the city by nightfall."

"Nightfall?"

"Yes my lord."

"Father is going to kill us."

"No, Arthur," Morgana smirked, "he is going to kill _you_."

Xxx

They stopped an hour later for a quick break. Gwen and Merlin dismounted their horses and allowed them to drink from the river. The younger of the two cupped his hands in the chilly liquid and slurped from them, "This is when why we don't go on group adventures more often," he said drying his hands on the front of his tunic.

"Their need to argue with each other is rivalled by no other."

"That much is true," Leon joined them with a friendly smile on his face, "Arthur needs to learn to admit when he needs help and Morgana needs to be more bearable when she's right."

"They make the perfect pair," Gwen said with a look on her face that told the two men she couldn't mean what she was saying any less.

"I don't think Arthur would ever agree to such a match," Merlin said with a cheeky grin on his face as he looked at Gwen.

"Nor I Morgana," she said back to him ignoring his implications.

"They may not have a choice," Leon said looking over to the still arguing pair, "But, for the love of Camelot, I hope they do."

The trio remained outside the argument, watching, ready to intervene should the need arise.

"Guinevere shall agree with me!" Arthur suddenly declared looking at her for support.

"No, Guinevere will not!" Morgana interjected before Gwen had the chance to defend herself. Trust and unconditionally love Arthur she might but she knew his sense of direction well. Well enough not to completely trust _that_.

"Guinevere?"

"I'm not getting involved," being meekly diplomatic, not willing to make an enemy of either of them.

"Merlin?"

"If I don't agree with Arthur what will happen to me?" Arthur's gaze narrowed at him, "I'm on Arthur's side," Arthur's chest puffed out in pride.

"To even the score, Leon is on mine."

"We really should get back to the city now, sire," Leon defused.

The gentleman he was, Leon helped Gwen back onto her horse before mounting his own. Arthur glowered at him when his back was turned and moved his attention to Gwen, "What was that?" he mouthed. She merely rolled her eyes and kicked her horse on.

Xxx

Merlin had been naïve to think that after an hour or so the argument between Prince and Ward would subside. Oh how stupid he'd been.

Three hours later and they were still ripping into each other though the topic had fully moved on to other pastures. They were clutching at straws.

"You know what," Merlin said loudly, "We wouldn't be in this mess if Arthur hadn't insisted on chasing after this monster that didn't exist and nobody said you had to come, Morgana"

The two bickering teens both glared at him; "Shut up, Merlin!"

"Your father banned you from coming! I think that was a hint!"

"There wasn't even a monster-"

"Exactly!" Merlin stopped then. He knew he stepped over the line more often than not but Arthur looked furious. His face was reddening in anger and his jaw was clenched, "Well it's true!"

"Arguing won't help," Gwen said putting a calm hand on Merlin's arm.

"Tell them that! It's all they've done for _hours_."

"I know, just ignore them."

"But they make it so hard!"

"You'll learn eventually," Gwen on the other hand was accustomed to their childish ways. It only seemed to happen when they were around each other. They managed to bring out the worse qualities that the other possessed. She had spent time alone with both of them and each had always been most pleasant when the other wasn't there to wind them up.

The teenage Prince liked to think he had some kind of claim on her spare time. He liked to talk to her; spend time with her; never anything untoward or inappropriate. She didn't mind. She rather enjoyed their conversations they had about the sort of Camelot Arthur would reign over. He was growing into being his own man; one that wasn't the replica of his father he had started to become when he was younger.

"We need to get going if we want to get back before nightfall," Leon said leading the group through the forest, "We have another two hours to travel."

Xxx

They saw the turrets of the Castle in half-light.

Arthur knew he was in trouble when he got back. He'd been tempted to go around to the northern side and slip back in that way and pretend he'd been in the city all the time… his father would never by it but it was worth a try.

Or it was until a troop of guards on horses come came flying out of the Western gate towards them.

They met them half way.

"The King requests your presence immediately," one of them reported. Arthur cringed.

He was in serious trouble.

Xxx

"Honestly, Morgana, you don't have to come. I'm sure you have something considerably better to do," Arthur bit as she kept prodding him.

"And miss you getting a rollicking? I don't think so," she said, deeply amused.

"Arthur!" came a shout from beyond the wooden doors. The King had heard his son's voice carry. The Prince's voice was considerably deeper than it used to be and carried further and easier.

"Go away Morgana."

"Her too," The King ordered as the doors opened on them. The colour suddenly drained from Morgana's face, "What did you think you were playing at? Both of you!"

"It was Arthur-"

"Did he drag you along, did he? Against your will?" Morgana looked to the floor. Maybe she wouldn't get out of this as easily as she had thought, "that's what I thought. The pair of you need to be more careful. You could have been killed."

"No we couldn't," Morgana scoffed, "There was no monster."

"Regardless there are still people out to get the pair of you. If either of you act this recklessly again I'll have you put in the cells for a week," he said harshly looking between the two of them, "Where is Leon, I need a word with him."

"Waiting outside, my lord," Arthur answered not looking up from the floor. He'd learnt over the years that relenting would do you better against the King than arguing back. He didn't have power over his father; he might have been reckless but he wasn't completely stupid.

"You may go. Straight back to your chambers, both of you. I don't want to hear that you've been elsewhere tonight," both of the teenagers bowed their heads and sheepishly left the hall., Straight straight past Leon who stood outside.

The King ushered him in; "I'd like to speak to you."

"My lord?"

"Sir Ector informs me that you are the most impressive of the potential recruits."

"That's very kind of him, sire."

"Do not endanger your position by joining my son on his jaunts, Leon," Uther warned him, "but thank you for returning him in one piece."

"Of course, my lord, my pleasure."

Xxx

"Guinevere, you must be more careful," her father instructed her as they ate their dinner that evening.

"I know; I'm sorry."

"Morgana should think before she takes you on these adventures, they could be dangerous."

"We had Leon with us, nothing would have happened between him and Prince Arthur protecting us."

"With your brother gone, you need to be more careful. I can't keep an eye on you all the time."

"You don't have to. I'm old enough Dad, I can look out for myself," Tom gave a hearty laugh and reached out to squeeze his daughter's hand, "I am, Dad!"

"I know, sweetheart, I know."

Xxx

The next morning Gwen made sure she was early to the castle to tend to the Lady Morgana. On her way she ran into Merlin who had already been requested to the Prince'sthe Prince's chambers once that morning; "He wants to see you."

"Me?"

"That's what he said," Merlin shrugged.

"Okay," she agreed, "How did Gaius react yesterday?"

"Oh, his usual," he set his eyebrow and glared at Gwen with a blank, but somewhat angered expression on his face and he crossed his arms.

"Oh dear."

"I'm to clean out the leech tank, help him sort out _all_ of his papers. And that's just the start of it."

"I'm sorry."

"Not your fault," he reassured squeezing her shoulder, "You'd best go see what Arthur wants before you go to Morgana."

Xxx

Gwen tentatively knocked on the door of Arthur's bedchambers and waited for a response; "Enter," she did so. "Ah, Guinevere."

"My lord," she said with a bowed of her head. She clutched at her apron nervously.

"I just wanted to say," he cleared his throat, "I'm sorry if I got you into trouble with your father."

"No apology needed, sire."

"I'm sorry I took you on a wild goose chase."

"It's fine, my lord, it was good fun really. It was nice to get out of Camelot for a few hours."

"Okay, well, just so you know. I'll let you get to Morgana now."

"Thank you," she bowed her head again and left him to his thoughts.


End file.
